Data mining your children

Thought provoking story on Politico about the amount of data acquired and retained by companies that gather information while students play games, take quizzes, or do homework. This is clearly a case where technology moved faster than laws, and whereas FERPA regulations have diligently safeguarded student data, none of the tools and platforms available now even existed – in fact “floppy disks were just coming into vogue.” Who could have anticipated the explosion of available student data? Politico highlights one firm in particular…..”The data analytics firm has peered into the brains of more than 4 million students across the country. By monitoring every mouse click, every keystroke, every split-second hesitation as children work through digital textbooks, Knewton is able to find out not just what individual kids know, but how they think. It can tell who has trouble focusing on science before lunch — and who will struggle with fractions next Thursday.”